IBM (atoms)

"IBM" spelled out using 35 xenon atoms

IBM in atoms was a demonstration by IBM scientists in 1989 of a technology capable of manipulating individual atoms.[1] A scanning tunneling microscope was used to arrange 35 individual xenon atoms on a substrate of chilled crystal of nickel to spell out the three letter company initialism. It was the first time that atoms had been precisely positioned on a flat surface.[2][3]

  1. ^ Eigler, D. M.; Schweizer, E. K. (1990). "Positioning single atoms with a scanning tunnelling microscope". Nature. 344 (6266): 524–526. doi:10.1038/344524a0. ISSN 0028-0836.
  2. ^ "2 Researchers Spell 'I.B.M.,' Atom by Atom". The New York Times. 5 April 1990.
  3. ^ "IBM's 35 atoms and the rise of nanotech". CNET News.